Human Confusion
by crittle247
Summary: End Tag to "Plan B" - Hetty follows Deeks only to find that she is not the only one. With a proud smile, she leaves him in the good hands of her lead agent to help the LAPD detective through their latest case.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Here is a end tag to season 2 "Plan B" Another wonderful episode with Deeks. Also you can say this is like a companion piece to my other story "Human Emotion" (You don't need to read it...but you are more than welcome to)**

_**"**Hopefully soon the rest of the NCIS team will welcome Marty Deeks into their make shift family. So that if something bad happens again, he would have someone to lean on rather the bottle."_

**This is going to be a two chapter thing, becuase I'm still polishing the second half. (it should be done in the next day or so) Anyways, thanks for reading, enjoy and please let me know what you think. :)**

Henrietta Lange was a master of many talents and tailing a subject while remaining unseen was one of the many. She knew nearly every trick in the book to follow another car without detection. She could even follow the best lead agents, who had a habit of keeping an eye out for abnormalities, and never be spotted. However, for a person who was never taught to keep a look out, or for an LAPD detective whose mind wasn't on his surrounding, Hetty didn't even have to break out the book.

Hetty had watched behind the rim of her china tea cup as their LAPD liaison headed over to the rest of the team and stepped back into the role of Marty Deeks, the wise-cracking detective, once more. He gave them his charming smile as they all left for home, eventually leaving him alone amongst the desks. She finished off her tea, noticing how his smile faltered for a moment before a forced grin appeared on his scruffy face; a clear indication that he was aware of the other employees still around him. Getting up from her desk, Hetty went to wash her cup and teapot, disappearing from his line of view but not from hers. By the time she set her dishes down to dry, Deeks had gotten up and headed out the door.

Hetty took her time gathering her belongings before exiting the NCIS building and proceeded to head down to one of the many undercover cars at her disposal. Getting behind the wheel of a black Mazda RX-8, she pulled onto the main road and started to follow Deeks' red Chevy Malibu. She followed him through the streets of Downtown Los Angeles until he came to a stop in front of First St. Pool Billiard Parlor. Hetty rounded the block and parked on the other side of the street, getting a better view of the driver in the Malibu. She watched as Deeks studied the parlor as if he was debating on going inside which would make him slip back into the alias of Max Gentry. His head fell down to his chest, eyes surveying his bright plaid shirt before starting up the car again. He was not clothed for the role of Max. As the red Malibu pulled back onto the street, Hetty spotted a silver Aston Martin Rapide. Apparently she was not the only one tailing the detective.

The _book_was now open.

Hetty knew that the driver of the Aston Martin, even though tailing a car itself, would still look for people following him. That was just his nature and that man was good at spotting a tail, but she was better. She followed the silver and red cars through a maze of side-streets and main freeways for twenty minutes. A proud smile began to form on her lip; Mr. Deeks was doing a good job on changing his route. The sun was setting, hiding behind the forest of sky scrapers, when the Malibu pulled up to a run-of-the-mill night club. The Aston Martin blew past the club making a right turn at the next intersection, while Hetty parked her Mazda a few cars back from the entrance.

She watched.

Deeks made his way straight into the club without any hesitation or notice to his surroundings.

She waited.

Callen rounded the corner a moment later, glancing around the area before heading inside.

She smiled.

The engine of the Mazda roared to life as Hetty drove away. Mr. Deeks was in good hands.

TBC...


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Here is part two...hope I made it seem realistic, first time writting Callen...I also mention "Past Lives" from Season one...and yeah...hope you guys like, and let me know. Thanks. **

This wasn't one of those high-end clubs in the richer part of LA where there was a long line to get into the club or have to be rich or now the right people to by-pass the lines. It was just one of the dime a dozen clubs that you could walk right in and get drunk. The loud thumps of the music's base vibrated off the walls of the club. Strobe lights were one setting away from giving the drunken crowds a seizer. The men were drunk and the women acted like an episode of 'Girls Gone Wild', but the drinks were cold and they were strong.

Marty Deeks pushed his way through the crowd to the half empty bar as everyone was out on the floor dancing. Ordering a double shot of anything dark and 80 proof, he sat down on a worn bar stool. The bartender handed him the shot, as he gave the man his credit card.

"Keep it open," Marty said as he ordered a beer and another shot as he threw back the amber liquid. It burned down his throat, but he did not mind at all. Yet a part of him knew that he should mind, he wasn't Max…was he? But that is why he was here, hard liquor and loud music to drown out those voices. Deeks quickly downed the new shot of liquor and chased it down with the cold beer.

"Didn't anyone tell you that you need a designated drinking partner if you plan on drinking like that?"

Marty snapped his head to the side at the familiar voice to find G Callen standing next to him. "Why is that?" he asked though he wasn't really interested in the answer.

Callen took a seat on the bar stool next to him as he ordered a beer. "You need someone to watch your intoxicated back," he answered with a crocked smirk.

"Right," Marty said with some distain that Callen could clearly hear over the loud music. He finished off his beer and signaled the bartender for another one.

Marty could feel he NCIS agent study him. He could feel part of his alias, Max, still scratching at the surface, the anger wanting to lash out. He wasn't Max, Marty told himself. For if he was, he would have punched Callen in the face for bothering him. But he was also not the Deeks that he shows the team 90 percent of the time.

Deeks took a swig of his beer before turning on the stool to face Callen. "What gave you the right to put Ray in the middle of a firefight?" he shouted with anger over the club noise. The bottled emotion lashed out in a non-physical way. Max or not, Marty still had the fight in him waiting for an opponent, and Callen had stepped into his ring.

"He willing agreed and that was the only way to get the death warrant off of his back," the agent said ignoring the anger in the other man's voice. He had no problem in answering.

"Yeah right," he uttered under his breath, each word dripping with sarcasm as downed another order of whisky.

"Would you rather Ray run and hide where he would eventually be found and shot to death? A place where you aren't there to save him?"

"What different would it have made if they shot him right there?"

"It was a control-"

"How is _any_ gun fight controlled? Please explain that to me. Because if I remember right, a freaking rocket launder wasn't part of the plan."

Callen watched as Deeks steadily gave into his anger and finished off his second beer. "Do you know how many times I wish I had the chance to put people I care about in a planned situation in order to save them?"

Hearing G's logic only fueled is anger more. Deeks didn't want to acknowledge that G was right. "He is my best friend," he gritted out, "I've had to put him into dangerous situations as an informant countless times over. I thought we were done and finally past all this! I didn't want to put his life in danger again."

"Well you didn't, I did."

Marty just shook his head as he went to work on the new beer and sot glass in front of him. One day was all it took to turn his life all upside down and backwards. Hell, he would have rather been shot twice in the chest again, then having to go through the last several hours. Because this, this was a different kind of pain; an old dark lasting one. The bad childhood memories, the guilt of turning his friend into a snitch, the creation of Max Gentry and how that took him close to the edge, the thought of knowing he'll never see his best friend again, the loss of Nicole… and so many other wounds to his heart bled fresh once more.

The anger deflated as he rested his head in his hand, fingers tangling into his shaggy hair. "Why did I get so close?" Marty asked his reflection in his empty shot glass.

The constant pound of the music drowned out any answer his mind could come up with. So he just ordered two more shots of whiskey and another beer.

"Five years ago," Callen spoke up after a few unspoken minutes passed by. "I was undercover and I got too close to one of the guy's sister." Deeks' ears perked up as he turned on the bar stool to face him slightly. "Last year I had to go back undercover using that same alias and went to question the sister."

"What happened?" Deeks surprised himself in asking.

Callen took a drink of his beer as memories moved forward in his brain. "A part of me wished it went the way it went with you and Nicole, but I had wasted a part of her life that she could never get back. And she hated me for it."

"Did you ever tell her the truth?" he had to know.

He could still feel her hands on either side of his face as she told him to leave. "I tried, but she didn't want to hear any more lies from me, I guess."

"I didn't want to tell her," Marty finished his third beer quickly wanting to occupy his lips. He didn't want to let it slip the reason why was because part of him did not want to lose Nicole, he still loved her

"Take it from me; telling her was the best thing, for both of you."

He would never admit it, but those words hurt Marty. Because an alias did not fall in love with his best friend's ex-wife, Marty did. But back then, Ray and Nicole were still married and he dated a married woman. NO! His head shook. Max Gentry slept with a married woman, Marty Deeks never crosses that line. A fresh cold beer found its way into Deeks' hands, as he was still having an internal battle in his head, totally unaware at the people around him. Thoughts went back to his old partner Jess and he wasn't sure if the man that she fell in love with was really him. Could it be that Nicole actually fell for the real Marty Deeks and Jess and everyone else knew just another alias? Maybe it's like what he told Kensi, sometimes playing an alias is just too easy. Max Gentry was too easy for him, and that is why he hated that alias so much. Max is the man that followed in his father's footsteps.

"I don't know what's me or a cover anymore," Deeks said softy. Callen barely heard him over the roar of the night club.

A smirk found its way on G's lips, "'My soul, like some heat-madden summer fly, keeps buzzing at the still. Which I is I?"

Deeks choked back his beer as he threw Callen an utterly confused look. "Are you the Riddler or something?"

"It's something Hetty once quoted to me."

"Well leave the Yoda quoting to Hetty, it sounds much better from her. What the hell does it mean anyways?"

"Something about secret fears about our identities and who we are."

Marty was still not convinced with what he believed was a G Callen pep talk. "How is that quote supposed to help me," he said with an edge. "I know I am confused with my identities. I've been confused with who I am since I was younger than eleven."

Callen watched as Deeks ordered two more shots and another beer and sighed. He only worked with the detective for just under a year, and this was the first time he tired to help him through a hard case and really shared some of his past with the liaison. He also knew that Deeks confided in Hetty, like they all do, so he thought that some Hetty wisdom would have worked. But he guessed that when taken from Hetty's mouth, the words just become words and not hold the special powers that only the 4 foot 9 ninja could control.

"I guess I'm not the best person to be talking to you," Callen said truthfully. "I don't even know which person is the real me most days. But I do know what helps to keep you grounded is to let the people you trust know all sides of you and not just the ones you show them."

For some reason those words were the ones Deeks finally needed to hear. He had a team now and a new partner who was different than any he had before. This NCIS agency had something different about it.

"What is it?" Deeks mumbled to himself. It wasn't the cool building or tricks they had up their sleeves. It wasn't their connections or privileges. No it wasn't tangible. It was a feeling, warm and inviting. It was a happiness; he actually enjoyed coming into work rather than escaping to the streets.

"Is this," Deeks softly asked, "I mean, the team, us… are we like a family?"

Callen didn't know what to say to that and downed his own beer.

"'Cause I'm not sure," he continued. "I'm starting to feel I can really trust you guys. I mean you've seen how well I get along with the LAPD," he scoffed. "But here it's different."

Callen finally found his voice again. "It's like a place where you can be whatever you are that day and they'll still see you for you."

"Ya, and still want you to come back…that's what a family is supposed to be right?"

As Deeks was getting more drunk, Callen was mentally sobering up. "I guess so. I wouldn't know anything about that either."

The two guys stared down at their drinks; not sure what to think of themselves.

"Well," Callen finally said, "if that's all we've got I'll take it."

Deeks finally smiled. "Well I guess I'll drink to that. To never knowing our true selves yet always welcomed in Hetty's home."

"I'll drink to that," Callen agreed. Their beer bottles clanked together.

A new bond had been made.


End file.
